Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Hooligan's Wake Up: Former DFB president banned

Yesterday's Scores
None

Headlines
Former DFB President Wolfgang Niersbach has been banned by FIFA for one year. Niersbach is guilty of ethics violations during the 2006 World Cup bidding process, which Germany won. He helped claimed "political responsibility" large payments to FIFA to buy votes for the rights to host the tournament. FIFA nailed him for failing to report this misdeed, hence the ban.

The Portland Timbers lost a big, hairy, part of their back line. Nat Borchers will miss the rest of the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon. He went down awkwardly towards the end of the first half of Sunday afternoon's 2-1 defeat to LA Galaxy. After failing to put any weight on the injury, it was clear that bad news would follow. Borchers will have surgery to repair the damage with the hopes of returning to action next year.

Dom Dwyer was the target of a lucrative transfer to Europe. Greece's Olympiakos offered Sporting Kansas City $3 million for the 25-year-old striker, but the club has rejected the bid. WIth SKC struggling to score goals, it's clear why they would want to hold onto Dwyer. He bagged a brace in Sunday's 3-0 win over Seattle. Add in the fact that Dwyer and his wife, USWNT standout Sydney Leroux, are expecting their first child soon, and you get a player and club that are happy with the status quo.

Finally, Arsenal are not so secretly pursuing a striker to solve their goal scoring issues. Their latest target is Lyon's Alexandre Lacazette. They offered €35 million for him, only to have that shot down. Lyon called their star irreplaceable, but I'm sure Arsenal can come up with several more million euros to further entice them, if Arsene Wenger feels like breaking with tradition and spending big.